The present invention relates to a single objective lens that can be used with either CD optical disks or DVD optical disks. Several different formats of optical disk are known in the prior art. The two most commonly used formats are the CD and the DVD. These two optical disk formats store different data densities; the DVD uses a much smaller track and much smaller "pits" to record a higher data density. The CD (Compact Disk) appears in wide use as both a CD-DA (Company Disk-Digital Audio) and a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory); the format is identical for these two species. The DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) appears in use as a digital video (movie) storage or an extended computer memory product.
Data records on both CD and DVD formats are in "pits" formed in a reflective surface of the disk. These "pits" are actually in the form of short "trenches" that lie along a track that spirals around the disk surface. The CD "pit" is typically 0.50 micrometer (uM) wide and between 0.83 to 3.05 uM long. The track pitch is 1.6 uM and the depth of the "pit" is 0.20 uM. To achieve higher data density, the DVD "pit" is typically 0.3 uM wide and between 0.40 to 1.5 uM long. The track pitch is 0.74 uM and the "pit" depth is 0.16 uM. The CD can reliably record about 650 MB of digital data whereas the DVD can reliably record about 4.7 GB of digital data on one side of the disk (both sides can be used on a DVD).
The width and depth of the CD "pit" was determined by A early optical fabrication technology which limited the objective lens to 0.45 NA (Numerical Aperture), and by early laser diode technology (a 780 nm emission line). Because cost-effective objective lenses could be made no faster than 0.45 NA (i.e. a relative aperture of f/1.11) and lower wavelength laser diode emission lines were not available, the size of a diffraction-limited laser spot image was limited to 1.0 uM at the Full-Width-Half-Maximum intensity points (FWHM). The CD "pit" depth is chosen to be one-fourth of the laser wavelength (0.20 uM) and the "pit" width is chosen to be about half the laser spot diameter (0.50 uM). This arrangement permits about half of the wavefront in the laser spot to reflect from the bottom of the "pit" and about half of the wavefront to reflect from the surface surrounding the "pit." The two reflected components are half a wavelength out of phase so they interfere destructively. No signal is returned to the objective lens when a "pit" is present. When no "pit" is present, the full wavefront reflects from the surrounding surface and light is returned to the objective lens.
This is the digital encoding process for most optical disks.
There are other subtle effects that this encoding process introduces such as diffraction at the edges of the pit, but the interference process is thought to be the principal phenomenon.
The newer DVD format has been enabled by two technology developments; a 650 nm laser diode has become commercially viable and 0.60 NA objective lenses have become cost-effective. The A combination of these two factors produces a diffraction-limited laser spot with 0.64 uM FWHM, so the DVD "pit" width becomes 0.32 uM and the "pit" depth becomes 0.16 uM.
Several optical disk products have been produced in the prior art that combine CD and DVD formats in the same optical reader. In order to achieve this goal, the prior art uses two laser diodes plus two lenses and moves either one set (laser diode plus objective for CD format) or the other set (laser diode plus objective for DVD format) over the disk that is to be read. No prior art single objective design is known that can operate with either the CD or DVD formats.
The invention of this application is a single lens that can operate with either the CD format (with 780 nm laser diode) or with the DVD format (with 650 nm laser diode). No moving parts are required with this invention because the appropriate laser diode can be turned on electrically and introduced to the objective lens via a dichroic beamsplitter or a grating structure.